The Food Foundation Podcast

Rebecca Tobi, Senior Business and Investor Engagement Manager at the Food Foundation hosts a panel discussion on this year's SOFI report. This annual report tracks and assesses the progress of major UK food businesses towards healthier and more sustainable diets.Joining Rebecca on the panel are: Lauren Woodley, Group Nutrition Leader at Nomad foods, Claire Atkins Morris, Director of Sustainability at Sodexo, Nilani Sritheran, Group Head of Healthy and Sustainable Diets at Sainsbury's, and Matt Lomas, Engagement Director at Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation.Read the SOFI report, and the Food Foundation Manifesto and subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss any updates.

Alfie Slade, the Government Affairs lead at the Obesity Health Alliance on how Britain feels about the food business.The Recipe for Change campaign explores the public’s attitude towards a new levy on unhealthy food and drink.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and don't forget to sign up to our newsletter - find out more about the Recipe for Change campaign here.

In this week's Pod Bites, Greg Garrett, Executive Director of the Access to Nutrition Initiative tells us the role of business, investors and policy makers in market transformation for nutrition. He argues that embracing nutrition is no longer an option, but must be core to business. Click here for more information on the ATNI's Global Access to Nutrition Index and here to sign up to The Food Foundation's webinar examining the key findings of our State of the Nation's Food Industry Report which publishes on Thursday, November 14, 2024.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.

Hannah Brinsden, head of policy and advocacy at the Food Foundation, gives her assessment of the autumn budget.Despite a focus on children's health, the Chancellor's announcements lacked significant support for poor households and Hannah touches on key subjects such as the Healthy Start scheme, early years support, free school meals and the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation gives her response to the new House of Lords Food Diet and Obesity Committee report, Recipe for Health: a plan to fix our broken food system, which was published this week.The report calls for regulatory changes to the food system, including mandatory reformulation targets, a tax on sugar and salt, bans on advertising and celebrity endorsements for unhealthy foods, and mandatory reporting on food healthiness. It emphasizes the need for mandatory approaches over voluntary ones and for insulating policy from commercial interests. It also proposes strengthening nutritional safety nets for children and improving the government's policy infrastructure. The Food Foundation urges the government to act on these recommendations to improve public health and reduce dietary inequalities.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter and for more analysis check out our latest webinar on our YouTube channel.

Ana Maria Narvaez, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Food Foundation, reports on the interconnected crises of food insecurity and mental health in the UK to coincide with World Mental Health Day.She highlights that 28% of adults with mental health conditions live in food-insecure households, compared to 11% without such conditions. Financial instability due to mental health issues exacerbates food insecurity, leading to anxiety, depression, and stress. The inability to afford nutritious food impacts both physical and mental well-being, particularly in children, who face higher rates of mental health issues and school absenteeism.The Food Foundation calls for policies addressing the cost of healthy food, benefit levels, and extending nutritional support programs to alleviate these intertwined crises. Click here for more information on Pushed to the BrinkClick here for the Manifesto and here for the Newsletter.

This week, Kate Anstey, Head of Education Policy at Child Poverty Action Group on the latest analysis published this week with The Food Foundation The report urges local leaders to do everything they can to ensure more children get a free lunch but say the onus is squarely on the UK government to expand provision of free school meals and end classroom hunger.Click here for more information, here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up to our newsletter.

Leticija Petrovic, the local food policy lead at the Food Foundation revisits a subject we covered a few months ago in our series of Pod Bites, how place-based, community-led food initiatives can help people access affordable, healthy and sustainable food.She looks more deeply into just three of the 10 models in this collaborative study by the University of Leeds and the Food Foundation, using the Priority Places for Food Index developed by the Consumer Data Research Centre in collaboration with the consumer group, Which? The aim: to gather data about the risk of food insecurity across seven areas in the UK and identify neighbourhoods which are most vulnerable to the rises in the cost of living.With Professor Michelle Morris of the University of Leeds, Juli Thompson of Food Savers, Bradford, Megan Weimann of The Warehouse in Newtonards and Reeni Kennedy-Boyle of Fyne Futures Ltd in Argyle and Bute.Click here for more information on Scaling Out, here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up to our newsletter.